Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram sparked a big upset over number three chess player in the world, Hikaru Nakamura, with a win over the American grandmaster in the third round of the World Blitz Championship being held in New York.
Chithambaram, who entered this tournament seeded outside the top 40, was able to convert an advantage with the white pieces against Nakamura. Although the 3-minute blitz version of chess is a more volatile event than classical, Nakamura is considered amongst the finest proponents in the shorter time control, if not outright the best player in the world in speed chess.
Aravindh’s win over Nakamura proved to be the standout result on the day for Indian grandmasters, as none ultimately succeeded in qualifying through the Swiss pre-knockout format of the tournament. Aravindh lost in the very next round to his compatriot, Arjun Erigaisi, but had the massive scalp of Nakamura as his consolation prize at the event.
Nakamura’s disappointment is evident in a video shared at the end of the game, where he can also be spotted discussing some moves in the endgame with Aravindh. His win took him to 3.0/3 to start the tournament, but dropping the next two games meant he was all but eliminated from contention.
Erigaisi was India’s leading hope in the tournament, but a loss to Fabiano Caruana derailed his bid. In the open section, no Indian qualified through, with Pragganandha’s 7.5/11 being the highest score.
It was better news in the women’s draw, as Vaishali Rameshbabu dominated proceedings to remain unbeaten throughout the day and qualify to the knockouts in top spot with 9.5/11, in a clinical set of performances. Rapid champion Humpy Koneru agonisingly missed out, finishing one spot below the cut-off for knockout qualification.
Following Humpy’s win in the rapid championship, Nakamura had spoken positively about the state of Indian chess and how it is viewed in the country. “I think that it’s really great to see is when you look at chess, I think the Indian model right now is very clearly the best,” Nakamura had said on Youtube channel Take Take Take. “When you’re in that situation and whether it’s the Chess Federation or even the local governments that are taking care of you, it’s very easy to play chess for the love of the game and to focus on it.”
“The future is very bright for India and the fact that they take care of their players speaks volumes about why they’re doing so well in chess as a whole,” Nakamura had said, finding himself on the wrong end of the incredible depth prevalent in Indian chess as one of its less-heralded grandmasters registered such a seismic result.
